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Democrats Move Ahead War on Impeachment and War Powers; Interview with Rep. Mark Walker (R-NC); Local Governments Calm Citizens After Rumors of Further Iranian Strikes. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired January 08, 2020 - 10:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[10:30:00] POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: -- didn't come up at all.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: That's remarkable. CNN's senior congressional correspondent Manu Raju is on Capitol Hill.

So Speaker Pelosi's silent on when she plans to send the articles, but Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, responding to her demands for a sense of the rules. Is he going to deliver?

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, what Pelosi made very clear last night in her letter is that she wants to see that rule, the Senate rules, actually unveiled, actually published before she sends over the articles of impeachment.

And Mitch McConnell rejected what she said. He said there will be no, quote, "haggling" with the Senate over -- with the House over Senate procedure. He said the House will not, quote, "steamroll" what the procedures and trial rules will be of the Senate.

So we're in a bit of a staring contest at the moment. It's unclear if McConnell will eventually release the rule, and that will prompt Pelosi to release the articles, or if Pelosi will instead decide to go ahead and release the articles before seeing the rules. But at the moment this standoff continues, leaving the president's trial in limbo and that start date still uncertain here on Capitol Hill -- guys.

HARLOW: So, Manu, Speaker Pelosi has also just delayed that vote on the War Powers Resolution in the House that would limit the president's authority on sort of how to respond to Iran, I guess until next week, she's delayed that.

Given our reporting that Iran intentionally missed Americans in this latest attack overnight, how are lawmakers responding to all of that now?

RAJU: Well, Democrats still plan to push forward on this vote. Apparently, behind closed doors just moments ago, they discussed exactly how that would be structured, how that would be dealt with, and dealing with some technicalities, which is one reason why for the delay.

But they still plan to press ahead. And Democrats that I talked to today defended this effort, and said it's not an effort to just tie the president's hands. They said the president needs to come to Congress, as -- if he decides to pursue military action with Iran.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: And does it make sense, still, at this point, at this critical juncture, to tie the president's hand in passing a War Powers Resolution, the one -- like the one you're contemplating?

REP. ELIOT ENGEL (D-NY): I don't think the intent is to tie the president's hand. The intent is to -- to allow Congress to play the role it's supposed to play. It's very frustrating to -- for us to be constantly pushed to the side when we are a coequal branch of government and Congress has the power to declare war, supposedly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: So also behind closed doors, Democrats discuss how to deal with this afternoon's briefings. Of course, this is the first time that all members will be briefed, first the House then the Senate, from top administration officials about Iran.

And what I'm told is that the Democrats discussed exactly how to pin down these administration officials, trying to get information. And one thing they plan to press on is why the administration does not believe it needs a new additional Authorization for Use of Military Force, something that has not been updated in quite some time. They're going to demand and get answers about that, so expect that to be a point of contention behind closed doors when these administration officials come to Capitol Hill -- guys.

HARLOW: Manu, thank you very much for that reporting.

[10:33:05]

We are going to speak next with a Republican member of Congress who is on the Homeland Security Committee, about all of these developments. Stay right there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: All right, welcome back. We are now minutes away from the president's address to the nation after Iran struck back overnight. Moments ago, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said that he spoke to the president and emphasized the capacity to exercise restraint.

With me now is Republican Congressman Mark Walker of North Carolina. He serves on the Homeland Security Committee. It's good to have you, sir, on such a consequential morning. Let's begin with the president. We'll hear from him in less than half an hour. What do you hope he says?

REP. MARK WALKER (R-NC): Thanks, Poppy, thanks for the privilege to be with you. I hope that he continues to reiterate to the American people, why this is -- was necessary and why it continues to be necessary. This was a lawful military objective. Those aren't my words, those

are the former Obama secretary of DHS' words, Jeh Johnson, talking about the need to be able to take out such terrorists as Soleimani.

HARLOW: Should the United States, Congressman, respond militarily to this strike even though the assessment is --the growing belief within the administration and Defense Department is that Iran intentionally missed Americans, and that no American lives were lost. Should the U.S. respond with military force?

WALKER: I don't believe, at this point, it warrants it. We're still studying more information. And I believe, in past times, we have showed restraint to Iran and their military. Specifically, Soleimani has attacked five to six times over the last six or seven months. So I believe the president, the administration has shown restraint at times. I believe this will be another one that they do as well.

HARLOW: Republican Senator James Inhofe just spoke with the president last night, and he tells CNN that the president relayed to him that he sees this as an opening of a door of sorts to negotiations with Iran. What do you think? Is this a good time to negotiate with the Iranian regime?

WALKER: Well, I don't know how much negotiation is left. When you have someone like Soleimani, who every day plotted the destruction of Israel as well as Americans, I believe that they're willing to stop being the world's state sponsor leader of terrorism, then maybe there's a place to start. But for three years, Poppy, Democrats have said, hey, put country over party. I hope they will remember today to put country over terrorism.

HARLOW: So to your point about you don't think military action would be prudent right now, but you also don't really see much of a door or even a crack in a window open for negotiation. Where does that leave us? What do you --

(CROSSTALK)

WALKER: I believe --

[10:40:02]

HARLOW: -- think the administration should do, then?

WALKER: I believe at some point, we need to continue to remove as many of our military from a country, at some point, has declared many times that they do not want us there.

I think that we need to continue to look from that perspective, because if we continue to look at Iran and they continue to influence Iraq, specifically targeting our embassy or other places, I think that's a long-term goal. But right now, it's Iran's -- specifically their military, their leadership, it's their move to back off.

HARLOW: Look, you're saying get out. You're saying -- that's you saying, get out of Iraq, pull our forces out. The president tweeted, on October 7th, I was elected to get out of these, quote, "ridiculous endless wars."

But take a look at these numbers, Congressman, in terms of the U.S. troop escalation in the region. Last week, 2,800 troops sent after the United States took out Soleimani, 750 troops deployed after the embassy -- U.S. embassy -- was surrounded by those protestors in Baghdad.

In October of last year, an additional 1,800 troops ordered to Saudi Arabia, where we already have thousands. How is this the president ending endless wars? What would your advice be to him?

WALKER: Well, my advice would be to continue to long-term plan the removal of the troops. But when you have Iran behaving the way that they are in, as I said, leading the world sponsor of state terrorism, which means it's part of their very funding that they have in their government, I think there are times where you have to go and protect American assets as well as lives.

HARLOW: So you support this escalation?

WALKER: I -- well, the reason why you have to support isolated escalations is because there are six different behavior strikes that Iran has taken place against our allies, against other people in -- since June of 2019. So there are moments where you have to send in troops.

Listen, I represent North Carolina, 6,500 --

HARLOW: Yes.

WALKER: -- troops have recently been deployed out of North Carolina, but there are moments where you do have to go and defend the aggressor. And right now, Iran continues to prove that they are the aggressor.

HARLOW: Yesterday on the show, Jim did a really interesting interview with your Republican colleague in the House, Congressman Don Bacon of Nebraska. And there was something he said that was striking, and I wonder if you agree. Listen to this.

WALKER: OK.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. DON BACON (R-NE): There is risk when you push back against a country that has been murdering Americans, there is a risk that they will counter-attack and escalate even more.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Was Congressman about, you know, 10 hours before Iran decided to strike those bases in Iraq that house U.S. soldiers. Do you agree with him about the risk? And do you think the risk is greater now for Americans, on American soil and outside of the country?

WALKER: I don't believe the risk is greater now. I believe if -- it would have been, I believe Iran would have tried to show a little bit more strength last night than they -- what appears to be just histrionics. So I -- no one can tell for sure, but we know that Iran is not slowing down.

And here's the hypocrisy, a little bit of this -- and I need to point this out -- is that during the Obama administration -- and we supported specifically the strikes -- but there were 2,800 of those, killing thousands of terrorists. I don't remember a single time where my colleagues came and created a problem or said, hey, this needs an AUMF.

I believe that we need to continue to take out terrorism, and I believe that most Americans would agree with that as well.

HARLOW: Well, you bring up an authorization for the use of military force, an AUMF, which is a vote that, frankly, members of both parties don't really want to take. They don't want the record, necessarily, they don't want the liability --

WALKER: Right.

HARLOW: -- there's a reason that there has not been once since 2002. Do you not believe that it is necessary at this juncture?

WALKER: I believe that we are headed to a -- probably an updated one, but I believe that this is an umbrella because one thing that hasn't changed, the Iranian leadership has not stopped shouting death to Israel, death to America since the last one. And as long as that's their position, I believe the president has the authority, when there is imminent threats, to be able to move in the way that he did.

HARLOW: Congressman Mark Walker, appreciate you being here, especially this morning. Thank you.

WALKER: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: Interesting interview, openness to another resolution, War Powers Resolution.

HARLOW: Wait until it happens.

SCIUTTO: No question.

HARLOW: One thing to say it, and then actually --

SCIUTTO: We've seen talk before, not action.

HARLOW: -- vote.

[10:44:14]

SCIUTTO: Iran is now threatening at least two key U.S. allies in the Middle East in addition to the U.S. We're going to bring you the latest, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HARLOW: This morning, at least two key U.S. allies are now in Iran's crosshairs, Dubai and parts of Israel, under new threats from the IRGC.

SCIUTTO: And they're within range. This is serious.

HARLOW: Yes.

SCIUTTO: Joining us now, CNN international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson -- he is in Saudi Arabia -- and CNN correspondent Oren Liebermann, he's in Israel. Nic, let's start with you. The UAE, the Emirates, under particular threat now. How are they responding tonight?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: You know, this is really interesting, Jim, because the way both here in Saudi Arabia and in the Emirates, the governments there monitor what people are talking about in the country, it's sophisticated monitoring of social media.

And it's very clear that the government in the United Arab Emirates have picked up what they would see as disturbing conversations that people are picking up on these threats, and that this is undermining people's confidence.

Because we've had two real efforts from the -- from the government there, to tamp this all down. One of them, you know, from the government media, saying very clearly, the rumors regarding security threats targeting Dubai are fake -- and this is interesting -- and they haven't been issued by official Iranian sources.

TEXT: Dubai Media Office: @DXBMediaOffice confirms that the rumors being circulated regarding security threats targeting Dubai are fake and haven't been issued from any official source in the Iranian government. We urge everyone to refrain from circulating fake news and spreading rumors.

[10:50:01]

ROBERTSON: So the government in Dubai, taking to Twitter to tamp this down. They really do monitor what the people in the country think about everything, but right now, of course, it's about Iran and the possibility of threats.

And then you have Anwar Gargash, the minister of state for foreign affairs, who's really the sort of international thinker, spokesman for the country. And he said this, the -- "It's essential for the region to pull back from the current and troubling tensions. De-escalation is both wise and necessary. A political path towards" -- a political (ph) path should be followed.

This really underscores just how seriously the Emirates take these concerns that are worrying people at the moment.

HARLOW: Absolutely, it does. Nic, thank you.

Oren, to you, the statement, I think, from Prime Minister Netanyahu in Israel says a lot.

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Poppy, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been President Donald Trump's loudest cheerleader over the course of the past couple of weeks, although he hasn't been that loud, as normally outgoing as we've seen with his statements in support of Trump.

But when Iran threatened to strike Haifa, Israel, where we're standing right now, Netanyahu had this warning to say:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, PRIME MINISTER OF ISRAEL (through translator): The challenges we face are not declining. Quite the opposite, in fact. But we stand resolute and strong against them. Anyone who tries to attack us will suffer the most devastating blow.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIEBERMANN: It is important to separate here the rhetoric from the strategic positioning. The rhetoric we've seen fly back and forth across the border between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, between Israel and Iran many times before. This isn't the first time Iran has threatened Israel, or specifically threatened Haifa, the largest city in Northern Israel.

That being said, Israel's position is that it's not the main show in this escalation. It's the U.S. versus Iran, it's Iran versus the Gulf countries and Israel is happy to sit on the sidelines and generally, with the exception of this statement, be quiet.

We haven't seen big statements from the defense minister, we haven't seen big statements from the foreign minister. So Israel is more than happy to position itself on the side of this tension here.

SCIUTTO: You might have seen that flash behind Oren's head, I should just note that's a lightning storm. I mean, in this time, you have to --

HARLOW: Yes.

SCIUTTO: -- make sure folks don't think that that's some sort of attack.

Nic, the president is going to speak in just minutes now. Let me show you a live shot of the podium at the White House where the speech is going to take place, address the nation. I wonder what message America's allies in the regions -- Saudis included -- want to hear from the president. Several of them have been sending messages to the U.S. and to Iran, to say time to ratchet this down.

ROBERTSON: Yes. They will recognize what they've seen, the attack last night, as the possibility of a military off-ramp that could lead to some sort of diplomacy. But they also know we're kind of back at square one almost, to the

minutes before Soleimani was killed. Quite simply, Iran and the United States are in their same positions. Iran wants to get out from under sanctions, and is looking and had been going down the aggressive more muscular attack route to do that.

And the United States has no intention of letting Iran, it appears, get out from under those sanctions until there's a new nuclear deal and a deal on ballistic missiles as well. So we're back in the same place.

So here's the real calculation that President Trump and his aides have to make right now, and this is what's being watched from here. Has Iran learned anything from the killing of Soleimani? And that's what they'll be looking for, to get a nuance of that in what President Trump says.

HARLOW: Oren, what are the Israelis -- what is Netanyahu looking for from the president?

LIEBERMANN: Well, Netanyahu will look for some sort of direction from Trump. Is this on the war path, is this on the path to --

HARLOW: Yes.

LIEBERMANN: -- another escalation? Or is this the off-ramp to escalation that we're looking to see --

SCIUTTO: Yes.

LIEBERMANN: -- and it's not just Netanyahu watching, it's the entire country watching here because Iran, frankly, has a lot of different ways to hit Israel, whether it's the north, the south or other areas of the country.

SCIUTTO: Yes. Right from Lebanon or from Syria, indeed.

HARLOW: Thank you both very, very much. We'll see what the president says in just a few minutes. Again, the president is set to address the nation about Iran's missile attack on those bases in Iraq, housing U.S. troops. You will see it all, live, right here. Stay with us. I'm Poppy Harlow.

[10:54:23]

SCIUTTO: And I'm Jim Sciutto. Lots of news. "AT THIS HOUR" with Kate Bolduan starts right after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:00:00]